Windsor council looks at plan to build 65 affordable homes

The Windsor Town Council will consider taking its first steps toward construction of up to 65 units of affordable housing when it meets Wednesday night.

The higher-density units would be built on about 2 acres of land at 25 Bluebird Drive that the town purchased from the New Song Church when it was relocating in December 2018.

Since its purchase, the land and church buildings have been used for Parks and Recreation Department programs and for meeting space, although their uses were suspended last spring as a result of the pandemic. The site is now being leased by OptumServe as a COVID-19 testing center.

Although the council briefly considered using the land for temporary modular office trailers to house staff during construction of the proposed Civic Center project, the council voted July 7 to use the land for its originally intended purpose and keep its zoning as residential and mixed-use commercial development.

During Wednesday’ night’s meeting the council is expected to hear a report from Economic Development Director Tim Ricard and discuss creation of an RFP, or request for proposals, for developers to build affordable housing on Bluebird Drive.

“I think the Bluebird site is ideal for affordable housing. I know the site well; it’s in my neighborhood,” said Councilwoman Deb Fudge. “It’s well situated next to lots of services in the Palms Shopping Center and it’s on a major bus route. In the late 1800s and early 1900s there was a major hotel there. It’s ready to be developed.”

The project could help Windsor meet anticipated state requirements calling for 994 units of affordable housing, a 126% increase over Windsor’s current allocation of 440 units. So far the town has built 169, leaving 271 units to be built by 2023, according to Jessica Jones, Windsor’s community development director.

“The total number (of required units) is still in draft form; we hope to have the final number in a few months,” Jones said.

Currently 385 units would be set aside for very low-income residents, 22 for low income, 108 for moderate income and 279 for above moderate income, she said.

The town will be required to update its general plan housing element with specific sites for construction of low-cost housing.

In July, both Windsor and Sonoma County filed appeals asking for a reduction of state-mandated housing targets. Still, town and county officials agree there’s a need for additional lower-cost homes in the wake of the thousands of homes lost in recent firestorms and amid the flood of wealthier Bay Area residents to the county during the pandemic, causing the cost of single-family homes to climb.

The appeals were filed with the Association of Bay Area Governments, whose duty it is to determine how the state-imposed housing goals are distributed across local jurisdictions. A hearing on the Windsor appeal is scheduled before the Bay Area agency on Oct. 29, Jones said.

Both the county and town maintain that the bulk of the more than 14,500 units required to be built by the county and its nine cities between 2023 and 2031 should go into larger cities, such as Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park.

Those areas already are zoned for more affordable multifamily homes and large apartment buildings, according to officials, and construction there would limit urban spread into undeveloped areas prone to fires.

The Windsor staff report said, “the site’s size and location make it a strong candidate for a ‘Smart Growth’ project,” and pointed out it is “within walking or biking distance of services and amenities,” including two shopping centers, a bus stop and downtown Windsor. The Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) station is three-quarters of a mile away as is Mattie Washburn Elementary School.

The Bluebird Drive homes may include units reserved for special-needs households, which may include seniors, disabled adults, homeless or at-risk households, according to the report.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday at council chambers, 9291 Old Redwood Highway, No. 400, in Windsor or virtually at zoom.us/j/99373696226.

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com.